Start-up Bentley struggles to begin production

It has become an all too familiar tale in this era of new technology: a new company emerges from nowhere, boasts of an amazing car and promises that production will begin very soon - and then goes suspiciously quiet.

- By KRIS CULMER

History is repeating itself, as one 105-year-old Autocar article shows: “Since the announcement in May 1919 that a Bentley car was to be produced, over two years have rolled by. Motorists to whom the chassis appealed especially have been wondering what was happening, why no cars succeeded the original experimental chassis, and, little by little, the rumour grew that the Bentley never would be a production job.

“Within a few weeks, the first car is to leave the works in the hands of its owner, and there will follow a steady output of five cars a week. These facts alone are the firm’s answer to its critics, but one may be forgiven for dwelling a little on the difficulties which have had to be overcome.

“First, there existed no works, no staff and no experience of manufacture when the car was drawn out. Then the chassis had to be tested to the utmost limit.”

Amazingly, Bentley had let Autocar’s Sammy Davis drive the experimental prototype – with its lashed-up, mud-filled, open body – in January 1920.